7th Heaven and Cloud 9
by meiling2086
Summary: The times were not with them, and they both were aware. But times continue to change, and though they are separated by the darkness that ruled the world, they still believe. They still had hope. A side story to Hsan's The Unique Alliance.
1. Chapter 1: Ore wa

**Dragonball Z  
7th Heaven and Cloud 9**

* * *

**Disclaimer:**_ Dragon Ball Z_ does not by any means belong to me. It rightfully belongs to Akira Toriyama-sensei, TOEI Animation, Bird Studios, FUNimation, and other licensees. 

**Disclaimer 1: **The central characters Nyoke and Togara belong to me. So no stealing or you will suffer comeuppances beyond that of your imagination!

**Disclaimer 2: **This story is in conjunction with H-san's fan fiction _The Unique Alliance_. Therefore, most of the credit goes to her and her ingenious story writing skills.

**Disclaimer 3:** I am not profiting from H-san's expense, nor am I profiting in general. I just felt inspired!

**Please Read: **You must understand _The Unique Alliance_ in order to get the terminology that occurs in this story. So please, read H-san's story!!

**Author's Note:** "Ore wa…" is Japanese that stands for "I am…" It is the proper male way of saying it.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Ore wa…**

* * *

Shadows enveloped the prison cells. I sat by the walls with my head laid upon its cold steel surface. Sleep was something difficult to accomplish in such a place. The smell did not help as much either with the low hygiene that invaded into these prison walls and crept everywhere. If not for the weekly laundering of this wretched place, the men incarcerated would have died of the foul living conditions long ago. I turned towards my cellmate who slept peacefully beside me on his rickety bunk filled with holes, broken springs, and patches of decay that stained the cloth he laid upon. I still could not believe his capabilities to slumber in such a derogative state. But for most of the men in these cells, it was a miracle in itself. I could not sleep, and kept well away from my own bed as if it were a creature humbly waiting for me to step into its hungry jaws. My thoughts wandered and darted everywhere, staring above at the ceiling covered in murky rust that continued to crawl towards the floor. 

Twelve years, eight months, and three days it has been since I was imprisoned. I could not imagine having to survive for this long in a secluded and sordid place as this. Much has changed in such an amount of time, but news rarely spread towards the prison confinements of the Queen, and I have not heard news about her for so long. How I long for her. Many days I try to push her out of my mind and not dwell on the thoughts for long, but they seem to return stronger than before. I wondered how she was, if she still lived under the same pastel coloured roof, and the silk laden rooms, or even if she still remembered me. My days in the prison, despite the horrid smell, continued to be lifted with the scent of her still hanging loosely in my memory.

I raised my hand towards my cloth-bound eye, touching its soft woven threads across my face. Trailing it around my features, I brushed against my thick beard and realised how old I may have looked. The last I remembered of her was a young and vibrant woman. I lowered my head between my legs and held it there for quite some time ignoring the events that stirred in the large male compound that surrounded me. The events that led me here all started with the life I led myself to be, the life of a Saiya-jin.

* * *

The morning rounds reported disturbance in the south quarters of the Queen during my third long and tiring shift of the week. The Quillisian law enforcement had sent for Saiya-jin reinforcements to halt the commotion that disrupted the empire's society. The troops travelled in packs down the trail, passing as if they were in a marching band towards the south quarters. I stood guarding the citadel walls alongside my best comrades as we saw the event unfold before us with Saiya-jins making their way through. As they passed, Cue waved his hands in a light manner. 

"I don't get those guys," he stated in a mild arrogance. "Can't they relax for once in their lives?"

I looked up at him with an air of scepticism and followed my eyes towards the group that had disappeared down the track.

"Well, it's their job," I answered casually with a monotonous tone.

Cue looked away with a grimace on his face as he turned to lean on the walls beside me. He was not one to be taken seriously often, but it was not everyday you find someone so debatable. Cue practically questioned most things that he believed were trivial, and at some points, even created one too many conspiracy theories. None of this ever got us into trouble, but it had further deepened my understanding about Cue: he definitely needed someone else to ramble these things to but me. I had handled myself with a share of his debates.

I pulled on my collar, fixing up its grip on my neck as I loitered on the granite walls behind me. The steel contraption slid across my neck and glistened in the artificial light that the Queen provided.

"Uncomfortable again, huh?" asked Cue, turning his head towards me.

I mumbled incoherently, returning back to loitering on the wall behind me.

"It's weird though, why we have to wear these things," continued Cue, as he played around with his collar.

"It's better not to think and just follow rules," I warned.

Cue rose from the wall and stood before me with a defensive posture.

"I mean, come on Togara," he began waving his hands around exaggeratedly. "Don't you ever wonder why every Saiya-jin has to wear these?"

I stood from the citadel walls and tugged at my collar once again, staring at my comrade before me. I sighed, holding my hand at my waist.

"I know that it's the rules, so you have to get used to that," I answered.

Cue raised his arms in the air in defeat, standing limply before me and sighing deeply.

"Yeah, Cue," spoke a voice from the left, catching our attention from our small conversation. "Just accept the fact that we're all dogs for the Quillis and that we're supposed to be home-trained."

Our eyes caught a shapely figure, with her arms stretched above her head. She gruffly moaned and sat on a crate opposite us amongst other boxes and other trash. Cue scratched and shook his head with a chuckle.

"Always the optimist, aren't you Basil?" he questioned, looking back at the woman before us.

Basil pouted and crossed her arms before her chest while crossing her legs over each other.

"Well, I would think you've gotten that fact in your head by now," she replied with a cock in her brow. Basil was a very provocative Saiya-jin female. She stuck to her own opinions and, despite her irrational loathing of Cue's conspiracies, believed her own thoughts were just as true. She was very disciplined though, always following orders, but she had her tendencies to make things her way. Most gossip I heard from other male Saiya-jin guards included her name in their conversations. For my own self-judgement, I kept away from learning what they were exactly talking about, but it did not go completely ignored. Basil was a tease for most of the men. I just laughed for the incompetence of such a thing. Now that was trivial.

I walked between the two and crossed my arms across my chest.

"All right you two," I began. "We don't need any more hostility."

Cue slyly smirked and shrugged his shoulders, whilst Basil grumbled and looked away in disgust. We all stood listening to the echoes of the riots down south that by then had diverted our attentions from each other for quite some time. The smoke billowed above the townhouses and residency that inhabited the southern area of the Queen. Gunfire and screams continued to relentlessly fill the air with destruction.

Basil held her forehead with her fingers and shook her head in dismay.

"Riots are such a bore," she commented.

"Hey, you can't help but rebel," absently stated Cue with his shoulders shrugged.

Basil stared at him with scepticism. "That's something coming out of you."

"Look who's talking, Miss Duty."

"Guys?" I slowly interjected before blood would be shed. "Now you know we're on our shift. Let's try to behave today."

Despite my intrusion, a group of Quillisian men stormed through our way with casualties carried upon their shoulders. We parted as if we were the Red Sea and made way for the men. To me, the analogy was a distinct portrayal. Where I had read such things was beyond me, but during my youth, books were a great source of knowledge of the world outside the Queen. Curiosity was my satiation back in those days. Now orders and regulations ruled my life.

We continued to gaze upon the wounded in the troop as they moved on towards the citadel. Many were injured with their blood spilling from their wounds and cuts around their bodies. Cue looked on ahead and spotted more arriving, and very soon the troops had returned from the revolts. The empire now laid in silence from its deafening roars and the smoke simmered to a trail of mist above the residences. By then our shift had ended, and, we too, returned into the citadel for a break of our own. The three of us stopped by the pit stop that had served for many of the citadel guards and ordered up our rounds as usual. We sat by a table we had instinctively made our own and habitually came to sit by on every shift. Again, Cue and Basil began to debate over things, but I occasionally calmed them down once again.

Those were the days like any other ordinary day. How I miss the company of my fellow guards in a forsaken place of a prison. How I remember the days of my youth, merely twenty when I began my life as a citadel guard. The times spent everyday were always filled with much amusement as I watched Cue and Basil match each other idea after idea. I still remember the last time I had seen Cue. It was a day we both would remember as our last day together as citadel guards.

He and I walked through the streets of the empire. We both had no shifts until after nightfall when the artificial light is needed to recharge for the next day. Basil meanwhile still stood guard of the chambers from within the citadel walls, and was not permitted to speak to anybody but those who were on shift. With the credentials that she had obtained through her years as a guard, she would be able to be a royal guard sooner than expected. But it was quite a feat to obtain. She was quite young for her level of expertise. I usually wondered how she was doing nowadays with her type of loyalty towards His Majesty. At most, she must have attained a high rank in class, but to think about these things was not of my concern.

Both Cue and I eventually reached the central square of the empire. A large monumental fountain adorned the large square in its centre with water spraying from every cavity. The display was magnificent to see, elegant and beautiful, it was a sight. Cue sat by the fountain's edge and sighed incoherently as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand. He looked up at me as I still watched the water dance on the fountain's rocky surface.

"Hey," he called, catching my attention. "You think we have to walk around the walls again tonight?"

I sat down beside him and leisurely laid my arms upon my thighs.

"Not sure," I replied. "I think we're taking to the citadel doors."

Cue ruffled his short coarse hair in disarray and shook his head. He sighed again and lowered his head above his chest.

"More standing," he grumbled. "At least we're only needed for two hours. I really need the sleep."

I chuckled under my breath, hanging my head above my chest in order to disguise it. Despite my bland attempt to do so, Cue recognised my mockery and punched me on my arm hard.

"That's not funny!" he exclaimed in a small tantrum.

I looked up at him with content eyes and slapped him on his back, signalling my apologies as a friend. Cue took this into account, and returned the favour. He was quite a character in my books. He persistently wanted to sleep as much as possible, even on days when he had no shifts at all. The lazy type to lounge around all day, but the time he uses to sleep were also sessions when he had more theories behind everything that goes around. His brain always kept ticking.

Cue stood from the fountain and now watched the display. He looked down at me with a thoughtful look on his face.

"You know, " he began. "You think it's true?"

I looked up at him perplexed and stared at his face that still eyed the fountain.

"What?" I asked.

"That there may be more than this out there?"

"Why are you thinking of such things like that?"

Cue again ruffled his hair behind him and paid attention to my presence by the fountain. He realised my confused look upon my face and shook his head as if I would have known what he was speaking of.

"Togara," he began. "There had been so many things that had spread throughout the Queen that you have to sit and wonder."

I continued to be perplexed about the subject matter, but my old curiosity began to creep from behind me. I raised my hand towards my chin and thought for a moment.

"All right," I started, looking up at Cue. "Name a few things I should be thinking about."

Cue paced for a while, slowing to a halt before me.

"Well, I know what really happened to Planet Vegeta," he started. "We were both born on the planet before we were rescued, right?"

I nodded accordingly.

"Do you remember, Lord Frieza?" he asked again, soon mumbling incoherently: "I sure as Hell do."

Again, I nodded.

"It was he who destroyed Planet Vegeta." Cue swaggered triumphantly, as if he had won an old wager.

"What?" I asked.

"That's right!" he exclaimed.

"Cue, it was destroyed by a large comet."

"Wrong! And more to think about, there had been some word going around that there are others like us out there."

"Yeah, they're in other colonies."

Cue shook his head at me negatively.

"No, no, no!" he responded. "I mean outside the affiliations of the Queen. There are other Saiya-jins out there who live outside this type of society, and apparently survive under that tyrant's rule still."

I thought about Cue's theories for quite some time. Although I did not succumb to his radical thoughts, there had been word going around about others that lived outside the Quillis regime. It was around this time continuous information leaks kept occurring every once in a while. I paid no mind to such sources, as I had not thought of it to be true at the time. But, the more I thought about the possibilities, the more Cue began making sense. But, then again, I was becoming like him in a way. I was reforming again. I was turning towards questioning things rather than living the way things were. He was influential, as he was contagious.

I looked up at him once more with a question of my own.

"But, wouldn't that be like dictatorship?" I answered. "And isn't that a poorer way of living?"

Cue opened his mouth to speak, but then delved into thought. He sat down beside me once again by the fountain and raised his hand towards his chin.

"I guess so," he replied, as he turned and smiled at me with a goofy grin on his mug. "Well, the ideas of others living out there was probably the fascinating point I was trying to get across."

I smiled back at him and our conversations continued to jump from one conspiracy theory to another. If not for that, it would be our next shifts or breaks. As guards, nothing ever came free. If we wanted a holiday, it was up to the discretion of His Majesty. But to think of such a ludicrous thing was of the impossible. The Saiya-jin guards were always put on a shift one way or another. We were given some time off in between, but also long and tiring hours despite of that. There had been some things I could not even comprehend myself at times. Having to stand there and do nothing for long periods of time would get you thinking about many things. Now when I look back, I realise why Cue had always been like that.

I always thought highly of Cue, despite his incessant ramblings. His way of thinking had always peaked my interest. He came up with many things, whether real or not, and thought of ways that would explain a great deal. For as long as I've known him as a Saiya-jin, he was quite brooding, but that made up much of his personality. If he were any different, that would have scared me. For the time we spent by that fountain, it would be one I would never forget. For now, I wondered where he would be now, like Basil. That day was the last I had seen him. He know longer was a guard. He recruited himself into the Quillis militia and had disappeared from the Queen entirely. I still wonder about his travels and his own story.

* * *

Many things happened that led me here. And the news rained down on me on a day like any other. I arrived by the large citadel doors alongside Basil who still worked with me on duty. We talked sensibly enough when a Quillisian guard dismissed me from duty. Confused, I made my way into the citadel, leaving Basil behind outside the walls. I found myself standing before the commanding officer at the time. He smiled at my presence. 

"Welcome Togara," he greeted.

"Likewise, sir," I responded, saluting the commander before me.

"You've been sent here on the grounds of His Majesty to be assigned a new shift."

The commander led the way through the large chambers as I followed. I had never been within the citadel walls, and for the first time, it was a surprise for me to see. Although Basil had described the setting of the citadel during her rounds, it was a different experience first hand. The walls glistened with a shiny polish, as did the marble stone below my feet. The ceilings were decked with drapes that floated above, and the doors came in thousands by the walls beside me. It truly felt larger than the empire itself.

"You are to guard a very important entity within the citadel," continued the commander as we walked through the large halls. "Your old shifts have been assigned to another guard. I don't understand why His Majesty had given you the responsibility, but it was not my place to judge His Majesty's decisions."

It occurred to me then the topic of the situation that brought me inside the citadel. It was strange for a citadel guard to be summoned by His Majesty himself. For truth, I felt out of place from inside the walls. I had accustomed myself from around the empire, but never did I realise how different it felt inside the citadel.

The commander stopped in his tracks and turned towards me, looking up at me from his diminutive height. He was quite a short man, but his record was impeccable.

"Togara," he began, eyeing me strictly. "You are to safeguard a very important person to the royal family."

I stood holding my surprise behind my serious façade.

"You are to be sentry and guardian of Nyoke-sama," he ended.

It was the day that had changed me, and led me to this place below the Queen in the dirty confines of imprisonment. I would not have known how it had unfolded, but for certain, I had never regretted that day. For that was the day that I met her.


	2. Chapter 2: The Day I Met You

**Dragonball Z  
7th Heaven and Cloud 9**

* * *

**Disclaimer:**_ Dragon Ball Z_ does not by any means belong to me. It rightfully belongs to Akira Toriyama-sensei, TOEI Animation, Bird Studios, FUNimation, and other licensees. 

**Disclaimer 1: **The central characters Nyoke and Togara belong to me. So no stealing or you will suffer comeuppances beyond that of your imagination!

**Disclaimer 2: **This story is in conjunction with H-san's fan fiction _The Unique Alliance_. Therefore, most of the credit goes to her and her ingenious story writing skills.

**Disclaimer 3:** I am not profiting from H-san's expense, nor am I profiting in general. I just felt inspired!

**Please Read: **You must understand _The Unique Alliance_ in order to get the terminology that occurs in this story. So please, read H-san's story!!

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Day I Met You**

* * *

The importance of the matter caught me unawares in the moment. Although I was merely a citadel guard, it was incredible to realize my current position at the time. A bodyguard for the royal family had to obtain many credentials and recommendations of higher authorities. A citadel guard like myself would not be able to gain such a rank in a short amount of time. I had only been a citadel guard for five years, and to gain a high class in the ranks was quite a challenging thing. It only occurred to me soon about the reason I was there, but that is something that I could not fathom at that moment. 

The commander continued to eye me in a strict manner, observing the state I was in. But, more or less, it may have been the fact that I was there that disgusted him. He turned on his heels and began to walk away, leaving me by the door beside me. I turned my head towards them, confused as to my presence here. However, before I was able to open them, the commander turned around towards me.

"Do be careful," he warned. "Nyoke-sama is not one to be taken very lightly. A few of my men had learnt that the hard way."

The words definitely caught me unguarded as the commander left the hall. I turned towards the doors and raised my hand towards the panel to open them. However, thoughts pervaded my mind about this Nyoke. I had never heard of anyone with that name. Nor had I ever heard of it in conjunction with the royal family. This Nyoke was an enigma to me, as to anyone else I knew. Cue always found a new source of information everywhere he went, and not once had I ever heard of Nyoke from his own mouth. These thoughts continued to race through my mind, but for a split second. It was then that I hovered my hand above the pink panel, opening the sliding doors before me.

The room before me was coloured in rich golden drapes and pale yellow walls. It felt quite foreign to me to enter a world quite as majestic and picturesque. There were no windows, but the room itself travelled to another room straight ahead, the colours changing from one to the next. It was a kaleidoscope of colours stretching as far as I could see. But the further I looked, the darker the rooms came to be. I walked through the rooms, experiencing the changing atmospheres that filled each one. The second room was washed over with oranges with dark ginger drapes floating from above. Most of the rooms followed in this code as I peered through the next three rooms, green, blue, and pink in succession. The 'house', if it were, was a sight for my eyes.

I stopped myself by a low tea table within the green room, filled with light green drapery and lovely scenery hanging upon its walls. One of a waterfall had caught my eye with its cascading white spray hanging above the crystal pool it hung over. Such surroundings never really existed, at least, that was how I always thought of it. I always kept to what I saw is what I always believed in, and what had always been real to me. As was a saying I once read in a book long ago: Seeing is Believing. A was such a simple man back in the day. I kept to what I knew and followed suit. Despite Cue always reinventing his theories and thoughts, I could not attune myself to such drastic changes. However, the painting upon the wall looked so real regardless of its ethereal and fantastical nature. I only came to realise the wrongs of my views soon enough.

I stood to look towards the table below and noticed a half-empty cup along with an open book lying on its mahogany surface. A heavy atmosphere suddenly laid upon my being as I came to the conclusion that I was not alone in this adorned room. The pages blew gently as if a draft was blowing them into place. I looked above finding a body hanging from the ceiling. For a split second, all I saw was the sheen of a dagger hanging from its mouth. It flew towards me at full force, its arms pulling back from the ceiling and protruding miniature dagger-like spearheads from its fingers. I stepped backward from the figure before it attacked me with its tiny armaments. Its long drape-like sheets swung everywhere amongst the drapery around the room like assimilated waves dancing together in fluid motion. The figure continued its assault towards me, striking with its hands aligned with its daggers.

I struggled to see its face whilst dodging these quick movements that had me pinned against an invisible wall. We began to travel through the blue room with its dark blue sheets blowing everywhere from the extent of our small clash. Eventually, I grabbed one of the drapes and threw it between the figure and myself. With this small time confusing it, I charged forward and tackled the figure onto the straw-matted floor. It released its daggers from its hands, the six of them lying by them. I examined the figure to only realise the compromising position we were in was as awkward as I thought. The sheets it wore turned out to be a kimono, again dredging up my knowledge of my readings in my past. It shimmered with white and navy blue patterns that decorated every inch of the fabric that lay before me. It was not too long to realise that it was a womanly figure the kimono had been adorned on.

She looked up at me with a small smile on her face, as if she had accomplished something that she had been willing to finish for a long time. Her hair was tied neatly behind her head. However, during our bout it had been slightly undone and spread clumps of her black satin-like hair about her face. We stood in this way for quite some time, perhaps forever staring into each other. This had caught my attention the most as her eyes continued to stare into mine. They were a shade of blue that I had never seen before. Lighter than the room we stood in, it glistened as if it were water itself that lay within them. That may had been the best way to describe such eyes.

"Anou…" she spoke.

I still stared at her at such a close distance without taking my eyes away from hers.

"You can get off of me now," she said, as if I quietly asked for her permission to do so.

I realised how we both situated on the floor, my large body overhanging her small frame with my hands still grasping on her wrists. I jumped slightly, climbing myself off the floor and offering her hand. She smiled again, and took my hand as I lifted her effortlessly off the straw-covered floor below us. She dusted herself, fixing up her hair and picking up her tiny weapons that still lay behind her. I watched her walk towards the green room, kneeling by the table and placing her daggers upon the sheen of the mahogany. She closed the book and picked up the cup before heading towards the orange room next with her kimono trail behind her elegantly.

I had never seen such a sight. She floated from one room to the next without effort. It was one thing to see in battle and the spars I had with my fellow comrades, but this was an entirely different experience. Unlike the intensity that bursts from flight-simulated battles, her movements were almost ethereal, otherworldly. It was as if the rooms she treaded were made of clouds. I focused on her. She was something else. But I had expected as much from someone that lived within the citadel and amongst the royal family themselves.

She placed the cup upon a small white tray on the floor, which I had missed on my way through the house that surrounded me. She arranged the set upon the tray, a traditional teapot and a saucer, which she had placed the cup upon. She rose from the wooden floor and turned towards me with a cheerful demeanour crossing her face. From what I had gathered, she was not as bad as I thought she might have been, given the commander's word about her before. It was then her head turned slightly to her side, crooked by her neck, and looked behind me. I turned to find nothing there, confused of her bemusement. I realised then what she had been staring at.

"Saiya-jin?" she asked softly as she walked towards me.

I turned to see my tail swaying casually, and turned back to her standing below me. She was quite young to be a Lady. No older than a twelve year-old I presumed. Despite this physicality, her look seemed to send a mature air that precedes her age. I answered her simple question, and yet she smiled again with that.

"Finally, to have someone who is able to do the job well," she remarked as she looked up at me from her diminutive size. "Tell me, what were you before you came here?"

"A citadel guard," I answered bluntly.

She shook her head at the answer. "A warrior."

How such an answer had caught me off-guard I do not recall. I never had known that the Quillisians cared for anything of Saiya-jin worth, let alone a Lady of the Kingdom.

"You are a warrior. Strong and true," she continued with a gentle voice. "This reason alone is why I would trust you rather than twenty of the commander's own army sentries."

* * *

I sat within the green room that hazed slowly over my vision. Although told that it was a soothing natural colour, I truly could not believe that I would grow to find this colour nauseating to stare at for long periods of time. She sat opposite me, sipping her cup of tea in her delicate fingers. Mine still sat upon the table undisturbed. It was quite new to see this type of drinking fashion. It had been my initial thought as how royalty had dined on occasion. Quite boring to see, but it was a lifestyle I accustomed myself to soon enough in my life. It was not long until she began to stare at me with her cup still in her hands. That was very awkward. Although I had been living a tough life and had been stared down at by much higher statuses, being around a Lady did not help my situation. I did not know what to think of. Probably at that moment in time I had my doubts and thought that citadel duty was something I longed for. 

"Drink," she encouraged softly, gesturing her hand towards my cup alone before me. "It will keep you alert and calm your mind."

I still sat there with my hands on my lap and my head facing the table face. I really never took into account how a royal like her would accept the company of someone like me. If not by our status in the world we lived in, but for our age that we were. For a young girl, she exuberated a very mature elegance around her. I, merely a young adult in his mid-twenties, could not fathom such behaviour out of anyone her age at all. I never thought it possible. I had seen many as young as her still full of childish banter. Basil's extended family could hold account to that fact I was sure. But, this teenager before me, held such an adult manner that would make my own parents seem too old for their own good.

She seemingly smiled at me across the table. I really did not know because my head still stared at the polished table surface. But if anything, I may have appeared timid in front of her. I never saw myself timid, or at least I never acted like it. But that definitely felt like the time.

"You don't need to be modest to accept my offer," she reassured. "We're both on par, remember?"

That fight earlier in the afternoon took me by surprise. It really got me thinking about how a royal was able to stand for herself in the midst of a dangerous situation. Perhaps, I thought, that it was a responsibility for them to learn such skills if ever that were the case. However, the thought of twenty of the commander's men were not able to strike her. That was the thought that reeled inside of me. But then again, I pushed them aside. Right then was not a good time to be thinking in Cue's shoes.

She continued to wait for my response patiently before me. Taking her request as an order, I picked up the cup with my hands and sipped it much casually than the way I had seen her do it. She kind of laughed. I did not know what was so funny about my drinking, whether that was something I should be smiling about myself or something embarrassing to see, but it helped lighten the dark mood that plagued me for quite some time. I placed my cup back onto the table and relaxed my shoulders that they drooped beside my body.

"How…" I began, catching her interest. "Where did you learn to defend yourself like that?"

"I taught myself," she answered, finally resting her cup atop the polished mahogany table. "Just between you and I, it's quite difficult to find the perfect time to train inside these walls."

"So… you were not taught by anyone?"

"Are you kidding? If anyone ever tried to teach me, I'd hurt them before they've even started."

It took me by surprise that she held pride in her fighting skills. I never thought Quillisians took the time to understand the aura of battle. Saiya-jins held quite a stronghold on their battle techniques. It was most adamant that many Saiya-jins in the day took out some sparring matches, and even some challenges to keep up their skills. This Lady before me felt like it at the time. During our little clash in the afternoon, and the way she spoke it then justified that. But, before I had learnt of many things, it was still a mystery.

"A Saiya-jin like you would understand, right?" she asked, looking at me intently.

Silence ensued. True, I understood where she was coming from, but… a Lady? Understand a Saiya-jin? Not much made sense to me then.

"Yes," I reluctantly replied. "But it's much more than battle and skill."

"It's also strength, power," she interrupted. "The willingness to live and continue to do so. Am I correct?"

I was taken aback by her words, but I nodded in agreement. "How do you know these things?" I finally asked.

She smiled childishly, the first I had seen her acting her age, and stood up before me. She collected the cups onto a wooden tray, which she picked up off from the low table. As she turned towards the cupboard behind her, I saw something move. Her dress, her kimono actually, was shifting uncomfortably on her rear end. Needless to say, I would not call myself roving at her behind in interest of it. It was something underneath her kimono that caught my attention. Slowly, the covers parted. I turned away in politeness. I would not degrade myself to staring at a child's behind, of all things. However, peering from the corner of my eye, something floated above the floor. Taking my curiosity into temptation, I looked at her. What I saw astonished me.

* * *

The memories flooded in. It pained me to think of them, yet they held dear to what I was. What I am now is nothing but a mere shadow lying in the pits of the fallen. I only hope she did not think of me in that way. I would not mind, but it would break her heart dearly. She is fragile, broken and lost, like I was once upon a time. She healed me in a way that made me who I am. But all was lost. We are different, in more ways than one. I can still see her in my mind's eye. I do not know how well she is, or how she looks, or what she may be now, but I still see her. It haunts me for so long. 

Twelve years. Twelve years since the raids, the riots, and the subjugation of our species. Locked up like a lame animal, useless and pitiless. I rubbed my eyes, feeling the cloth that bound my head for all these years. It was fruitless to think that I would recover from such an ordeal. Like few of the prisoners that lay within the prison walls, I had experienced the terror of the Inquisition. For history's sake, it was the breaking point within the Monarchy. It was the politics that had gotten in the way. It was in a matter of a few days that I had lost her. I had failed to act my duty as a bodyguard, and as a Saiya-jin.

It was now daybreak, or I assumed it to be. The male prisons did not have any access to the outside world. We were all trapped, and confined in these rusted iron walls with only the eternal space to accompany us. Small portholes were provided that only shone through very little light from the stars outside. We have all accustomed ourselves to the dimness and the darkness in one. Why daybreak? For the 'night' that we experienced, I did not sleep. It was common for me to not sleep on occasion, the perks for being an ex-bodyguard. My body had learnt to deal with the tests of time, and the night was not long for me.

Soon the lights sprung to life, blinding the eyes of the men that slept. They grumbled and groaned in their rude awakening with the sound of movement echoing in the empty hall. My cellmate woke with a dozed look on his face and his rusty hair wildly flaring atop his head. He looked at me and waved his morning gesture, a usual routine he had adopted since we were stuck together. I looked away, my usual morning reply, and stared into the cell across the hall to us. Two unusual men had woken with no less than mild amusement. They bothered me. It bothered me so how young men of their species cared less for the situation they were in, and were more inclined to gamble and make fun of it all. Trivial, it was.

One of them, with matted short silver hair, looked at me from his cell. He gave a large grin and extended his arm from the bars that held him and his twin brother inside.

"Morning Togara!" he shouted from across the hall with that nauseating grin.

I turned my head towards the ground in front of me and did not speak to him. He seemed always happy and full of joy. It was almost sickening, almost hurtful. I never quite understood why, but his joy pierced daggers in my heart. He only served as a reminder of what I had lost. It was not long until I saw his hand retreat back into his caged prison from the corner of my eye.

"Just trying to be friendly," he reasoned. "Come on Togara-san! You used to talk to me!"

"Can't you see he's a bit out of it lately," replied his twin brother, running his hand in his long silver hair.

"Oh. Well, we'll let him wait it out then."

I ignored them. I did not feel like talking. But I cannot hide the fact that it was true in a few ways. There were times when I would talk to them, and other times when I wanted to be alone. They held some form of sanity in this place. Others were not so lucky to make out of this cesspool of a prison, but they were the unfortunate ones. Sometimes I felt like following that path towards insanity. It seemed logical, your sentence was cut short and it was the only one-way trip for any prisoner of war. My former prison cellmate seemed to decide that some time ago.

My present cellmate ruffled his hair with his hand, stretching from his old bed and swinging his legs across its frame. He looked to me with a curious look on his face, one I was not paying attention to.

"Hey, Togara," he called, catching my attention from my deep thoughts. "Thinking about it again?"

I looked at him with a dazed look in my visible eye.

"What?" I asked.

He pointed towards my face. "Your eye."

I reached up to my face and patted the cloth that bound my head. I sighed incoherently and looked towards the ground again. "I'm fine," I answered, looking away from his gruff face. I never spoke about my problems, not out in public anyway. But it was not a mystery for the others. Everyone knew what had happened to me twelve years ago, or so they think they did. The pain had numbed away from my left eye long ago. The procedure was a violent one, rendering me useless, and casting me away into the pits of nothingness. My cellmate was lucky not to have experienced what I had been through, but our kind have been subjugated to a lesser degree. We were simply merely puppets waiting for our strings to be pulled or plucked out.

With the prison back to life from its silent slumber, I looked around to find many of the fellow inmates taking stretches in their confined prisons. The doors to the prison opened and the sound of squeaking wheels echoed in the now brightly lit corridor. A stout woman pushed a rations cart, stopping by every prison cell to hand over what was their sorry excuse for food and nourishment. Our food lady, or so many had dubbed her, was not one to negotiate with. She always had a sour face, one that I personally never wanted to see every time I ate. No matter, the food itself was not entirely edible anyway. After the first few years in this cell, I had gotten used to the water in the gruel and the stale slices of bread that were left for mildew and mould. It had sustained me thus far, yet I do not know how long it had slowly killed me from hunger over the years. Many others refused eating the things that they gave on our trays, but give or take a few weeks and they turn around like begging dogs calling for their masters. Those who were too proud died of starvation leaving more room for more inmates to follow stead. It sickened me, but I felt the need to survive overpowered my pride, or what was left of it.

The food lady reached our prison cells, handing food over to each one. The twin brothers beside us clamoured for the trays, and like every other day, count their rations, adding and swapping their morsels between each other depending on the recent betting system they had played. The both of them always made everyday a game, betting on the smallest things just to amuse themselves. I still did not understand their logic. They were prisoners like the rest of us, but maintained a life that stood outside of these metallic walls. I did not know whether they were ignorant or just simply insane to begin with, but I was jealous. Truly, I was, for those two with light-hearted spirits were always constant reminders.

Finally our trays were given to us, my cellmate and I both stared at the food trays that were stained with dry rust. The same gruel and bread stood wretchedly atop them, almost as if staring at us disdainfully. My cellmate grabbed the both of them and laid one atop his lap, balancing the tray to prevent spillage from the bowl of gruel and sludge.

"Not hungry?" he asked, waving my rations in front of my face.

I grabbed the dirty tray from his hands and placed it beside me. I never turned towards it, finding the bowl of gruel always questionable and that my appetite was not in favour.

"You gotta eat something," he continued, soon gorging his gruel as if it were a buffet.

I looked towards him with my good eye and sighed inwardly. Despite me having lived in this prison for the past twelve years, my cellmate had been here much longer. According to him, his imprisonment was a result of 'disobeying orders, reckless abandonment, and opposing authoritative charges', as it were. He held some form of normalcy, but he was still a spirited fellow. Supposedly the wisdom and experience he had given me for the time we shared a cell had been useful, but there were times when he was questionable in his own actions. He seemed to have given up a certain degree of pride, falling into a state of despondency within this small cell, almost to the brink of resembling the twins across the corridor. I suppose that is what any right man would do in a wretched place such as this, accept it all. Perhaps this was all insanity.

Soon enough the prison cells had received their fills for the morning. The sound of spoons clamouring and scraping against grimy bowls echoed throughout the prison walls. I barely touched my tray. However, I grabbed the piece of bread that was possibly edible and began chewing into its stale hide. The food lady had made her rounds and returned to the front of the corridor, pushing her squeaky cart beyond it. To my amusement, she had yet to leave the prisons, instead turning towards the long corridor before her, standing before us.

"All right, ground rules!" shouted the stout woman, the corridor turning her voice into a booming force. "You all got a new cleaner who's going to be here for quite some time. So why not go easy on her for the first few days?"

The men who have turned half of their attention to her began to speak audibly throughout the prisons, their murmurs resonating together amongst themselves. I suppose it caught me unawares as well. The male prisons had not been assigned a cleaner for a month or so at most, leaving the prison in a highly unhygienic condition. Many of the men had refrained from using the cleaning room due to its sorry state, preferring to be filthy than enter that rancid place. We all had grown accustomed to our last cleaner, a fellow prisoner like us who was paying her dues to the society that had banished us here. She was a female inmate from the female prisons that was located on the other side of the ship, directly next to the docking bay if my memory served me. A captive of The Queen and usurped from her home, like many of us in this hell. We usually had gotten news about the female prisoners on the other side – how they were treated, how they were coping, and grimly, who had passed away.

At times like those, I often imagined how the female prisons and its occupants were treated after hearing the differences between our segregation. But now, I thought less of their situation at a time like this. A commotion had occurred before the month we had in filth, and since then security had grown tighter. Our fellow inmate had yet returned for duty as our cleaner, and for a while, the inmates in this prison had been left in the dark. We all had no idea what was happening.

The murmurs grew louder about this type of news, warranting a stomp from the food lady who stared at us with strict attention.

"Are we clear?" she roared, awaiting a reply and silencing the murmurs that escaped the mouths of men moments ago. With a nod of her head, she left us to our devices, shutting the door behind her with a loud boom.

After a while, the prison was brought to life with inmates continuing to eat their daily gruel. There soon came talk of this new cleaner, the men speaking to each other across the corridor and amongst themselves.

"We got ourselves a new slave," spoke one ahead of the corridor, amused by the early news during this bleak morning.

"Brightest thing of my day," spoke another in reply. "Unless I spoke too soon." He laughed in a jovial manner.

"You think she's from the female compound like last time?" spoke one nearby, repeating this query a few times before obtaining replies from others.

I merely sat and slowly ate at my gruel, having finished chewing my stale bread. It was a preference for me. I never wanted to leave my mouth dry after breakfast. My cellmate, having finished his tray, left it by the bars knowing full well that they were going to retrieve it again for another day. I did not finish my gruel. I had no great appetite today. I pushed what was left towards the bars as well, catching a glimpse of the twins across the corridor. They were conversing, as they usually do, but I caught the end of it that made me sigh with pity, and strangely, amusement.

"I bet she won't last two weeks," spoke the longhaired man, and putting up four fingers at his brother.

The shorthaired one smirked, replying with five fingers. "I give her a week."

Betting on the new cleaner and with five rations as the deal. I watched them shake their hands, agreeing to their game, making my sigh inwardly at their naivety. My cellmate watched with amusement and curiosity out of all things, and soon joined in with them, making conversation. I drifted someplace else. This past month had been slowly tormenting me, even though I tried not to show it to the rest of the men. I needed to know what was going on, what was happening with the world above us. There were too many things to think of altogether. What happened a month ago? Why are there more guards at their posts? Why have we been left in the dark? What was the monarchy doing? How did it turn out this way? What happened twelve years ago? When did it fall apart? What happened to us? What happened to the world I used to know?

I miss her.


End file.
